Surface freight is normally shipped in increments of full trailer or full sea sub-container amounts particularly if shipping is contracted to a carrier to maintain “positive control” over the shipment. Positive control requires a verification process to determine if the shipment has been tampered with. For example, positive control shipping by truck requires that the trailer be sealed once the items have been loaded. For less than full trailer loads, however, the carrier normally picks up the freight at the shipper's site and takes it to a hub where it may be combined with other shipments to make a full load. This presents a major problem to smaller shippers and shippers of parcels such as the major parcel shippers such as UPS or Federal Express who require positive control over their shipments.
In the case of less than full truck load shipments under positive control it is not possible to add other shipment increments to fill the trailer because it is sealed and the shipper must pay for a full load even though the shipment is less than a full load. This presents a cost problem even to the major parcel shippers who contract out their surface shipments and who require positive control. In addition, the system may be unbalanced, that is for the return trip the trailer may be empty of freight, however, pallets and containers for bulk items must be repositioned to the originating hub. This raises the cost of shipping since the cost of the return trip is passed on to the shipper.
Shipping containers for bulk items and parcels are normally large and bulky and make the return trip for relocation of the empty containers expensive and inconvenient. To overcome this, collapsible shipping containers have been designed to reduce the space necessary to ship the containers back to a hub for reuse. These containers may require special tools and hardware to erect the container and are expensive or may be heavy and difficult to handle without the need for mechanical assistance, such as a fork lift.
Accordingly there is a need for a hub to hub shipping system that can be operated efficiently and inexpensively for the shipment of bulk items and parcels with positive control even in less than full trailer increments.